Containers such as toothpaste tubes in which viscous fluids may be contained and extruded by squeezing through a nozzle are well known. Generally such tubes have a cylindrical cross section over the main part of their length and are folded flat at the closed end e.g. in a "fishtail" closure. A problem with such tubes is that their shape does not allow them to be easily stacked, e.g. for displaying on shop shelves, and consequently they are normally contained within a carton, which is generally of tetragonal shape.
Although the use of a carton enables such tubes to be stacked, the need for this additional packaging is inconvenient in creating extra manufacturing effort, increased cost and a more bulky article requiring more storage space. More seriously this extra packaging is environmentally undesirable both in terms of the use of resources and of the subsequent disposal of the carton. In certain countries this environmental issue is being met by legislation to encourage manufacturers to minimise the amount of excess packaging.
In recent years the problem of excess packaging in the drinks industry has been met by the replacement of rigid bottles by folded cartons, e.g. the known Tetrapak (trade mark), which are generally tetragonal and are readily stackable. The emphasis in producing these cartons has been to introduce rigidity, and hence such cartons are generally unsuitable for use as collapsible containers such as toothpaste tubes. It is an object of this invention to alleviate the above-mentioned problem of excess packaging in the field of collapsible containers for extrudable viscous fluids such as toothpastes.